Friday Book Recommendation

by jeanineoloughlin

Many of you have probably seen these movies or at least heard of them as they’ve taken the teenage and young adult market by storm. I read these books when the first movie came out after hearing several friends and family raving about them. After the first book I found it a charming, fast-paced action/adventure story with dystopian flare. However, as I progressed through the second and third books I found that there was much more to these stories than an action flick.

One short coming I think a lot of young adult novels have is that they put teenagers into these extreme situations who come out triumphant at the end. Some of these experiences are quite traumatic and include death and grief or other strong emotions which are often glossed over in the attempt to move the story forward. I found this very issue addressed in this trilogy of books, showing just what kind of trauma and damage can happen to these young people from being thrown in these situations. There is PTSD, depression, mental programming and much more.

Then there’s the controversial ending. I, like many, were rooting for a good happy ending, and was given something unexpected instead. At first I was angry and bitter, but after given time to think and analyze through the stories I found the ending to be quite fitting and really made me absorb the overall theme and message I felt the books were trying to convey. Now as with all literary analysis I can’t say for certain that this was the author’s intent but it’s how I was able to really take a lot away from the books beyond “wow Katniss is a badass.”

So even if you’re sick of hearing about these books and movies if you haven’t had the chance to read them I would suggest you do, but look for the psychological story beyond that of the adventure and war.